Alyssa Healy named new Australia cricket captain across all three formats | Cricket
Cricket This article is more than 1 month oldAlyssa Healy named new Australia cricket captain across all three formats
This article is more than 1 month old- Healy, 33, takes over after Meg Lanning’s shock retirement
- Wicketkeeper-batter’s Test reign starts on December 21 v India
Alyssa Healy has been charged with leading Australia’s all-conquering women’s cricket team into a new era after officially replacing Meg Lanning as captain across all three formats.
The gun wicket-keeper batter filled in for Lanning as captain for extended spells over the past two years, including this year’s Ashes. Now the 33-year-old, who was named vice-captain last year, will step into the role full-time after Lanning’s shock international retirement last month.
Healy, a brilliant matchwinner across her 255-game career, will lead Australia’s attempts to keep international cricket’s chasing pack at bay.
“I am honoured to accept the role of captain and am grateful for the opportunity to lead our team,” Healy said in a statement. “I’ve really enjoyed the support of the players over the past few months and their encouragement to continue to be who I am and lead the group like I normally would from within.
“My approach will remain consistent to what it has been previously, but I’ll make my own mark on the role and be sure that I’m doing the best I possibly can for this group to maintain the success that we’ve had.
“It’s an exciting time to be involved with this team, we’re seeing the emergence of incredible young talent and are challenging ourselves to continually evolve as a group,” Healy said. “I want to help create a new legacy for this Australian team. We can achieve great things.”
The decision to appoint Healy and allrounder Tahlia McGrath as vice-captain was ratified at a Cricket Australia (CA) board meeting on Friday.
“Alyssa is an outstanding player and leader who has earned enormous respect both on and off the field,” CA general manager of high-performance and national teams Ben Oliver said in a statement.
“Alyssa brings a wealth of experience to the role, and we have great confidence in her ability to successfully lead the Australian women’s team in tandem with Tahlia as vice-captain.
“We are extremely fortunate to have a talented and experienced group of players who will provide great support to Alyssa and Tahlia as the team evolves and seeks to build on its outstanding performances.”
CA are looking for leadership stability ahead of next year’s Twenty20 World Cup in Bangladesh and Healy and McGrath, with coach Shelley Nitschke, provide that.
“We actually need to look long term and work towards World Cups and work towards big series and tournaments,” said Healy. “Having a more permanent role and a bit more clarity around that, it gives all three of us as the leadership with this side an opportunity to stamp our mark and get the group to where we want to, to hopefully hold up a trophy next year in Bangladesh.”
Healy’s reign will begin later this month after she declared herself a near-certain starter for the Test against India at the famous Wankhede Stadium on December 21.
The Gold Coast girl, niece of 119-Test wicketkeeping great Ian Healy and partner of current Australian quick Mitchell Starc, missed the entire WBBL this season after badly hurting her finger while trying to break up a fight between her two dogs.
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